Happy St. Patrick’s day!
I was supposed to be hitting the road today for Phoenix. I had planned on helping our uncle run another massive “garage” sale (as Blake and I did a couple years ago. That time the volume of stuff we got rid of was epic). His (my uncle’s) health is now such that he needs to get out of the large, remote house he is living in now and get into a place where he can have ready access to medical care. Unfortunately that will be on the other side of town (Sun City I think its called) and much smaller. So, the less to be moved the better (cash is easier to carry). Anyway My health has been a bit iffy lately so I stayed home. Nothing serious I suspect, just a big sinus infection flare up. I live with low grade sinus problems that often give me mild fever and such but this time it got pretty bad (much stronger fever for several days and then some). I decided that since my cousin would be in Phoenix this time (Blake and I were on our own last time) that it might be best for me to stay home and see a doctor to get antibiotics and such (it seems every spring when the local farmers start to burn their ditches I end up having to see a doctor for a sinus flare up). I had hoped to simply fly down once this is done (later this week) but then I have other issues preventing that (anniversary on riday, Linda’s dad’s funeral services the next week and such). Anyway, since I am stuck at home, here is another “after Tucson” offering.

AUSTRALITES:
Here is a small riker box containing five pieces that have been made into ancient tools. The label says “Australites. Chipped Australian Aboriginal Artifacts”. I got this from a big time artifacts dealer at my hotel this past Tucson. I had a fairly large Australite that Mike Martinez picked out as possibly being an ancient tool (though it had some minor obvious modern edge chipping). I took it to the expert to find out. Not only did it turn out to be a tool it turned out to be a particularly ancient one that the shop owner wanted for his collection. A trade and cash deal resulted in my getting this batch that he had on display in his room. I am offering this as a lot at this point but will sell these individually if they don’t sell that way (but at $25 each).
5 ancient Australite tools in riker - $100

BONDOC, Philippines: (Mesosiderite). Found 1956.
Here is a small fragment that I think the previous owner paid quite a bit of money for ($50 range I think?). It was “important” because it was from an ex J. M Dupont specimen (#88 – 47.9g according to the Michael Casper specimen label that
accompanies this piece). This specimen as it is now is just a fragment weighing under a gram. It does have a patch of white paint that does show that it was likely removed from a larger labeled specimen.
.6 gram fragment – 9mm x 7mm x 6mm - $10

GIBEON, Namibia: Fine octahedrite (IVA). Found 1836.
Here is a part slice that was purchased from Robert Haag back in 1986. It is an odd, interesting piece. Its two longer sides – across from each other have natural crust. The other two sides are cut. This specimen was clearly prepared looong ago. The coating has turned somewhat yellow green. The etch is quite deep, vibrant and detailed (this piece would likely be really interesting under a scope). There are a couple small rust spots but they are small enough and not detracting enough for me to want to risk screwing up the original etch and coating to “fix” them. This comes with its original Robert Haag information card.
98.8 gram etched part slice – 63mm x 45mm x 4mm - $150

JUANITA de ANGELES, Mexico: (H5). Found 1992. Tkw = 85 kilograms.
I vaguely recall having some of this meteorite years ago. However, the previous owner of this piece got if from Alain Carion (it comes with the label Alain gave with the specimen originally). This is a weathered fragment with one large side showing what is very likely the original crusted exterior of the meteorite (the other surfaces are old natural breaks).
16.5 gram natural crusted fragment – 40mm x 19mm x 10mm - $50

NWA 6355: Lunar. Anorthositic breccia. Ound 2009. Tkw = 760 grams.
Here is a small slice in a larger membrane box that also contains the info card. This is the material that closely matches the soils at the Apollo 16 landing site. This specimen shows two fairly large anorthosite clasts (one darker and harder to see) in a dark gray to black back ground.
.39 gram slice in membrane box – 12mm x 10mm x 2mm - $275

ODESSA, Texas: Rock Flour.
This is a small (14mm diameter 50mm long) plastic tube/ vial filled with a fine pinkish white powder and labeled “Odessa, TX Crator Limestone Rock Flour”. Crater is spelled wrong, but I do believe the rest. I don’t recall having any rock flour from Odessa before, but I have had some from Canyon Diablo and it certainly has a similar appearance (though a slightly different color).
14mm x 50mm vial of powder - $15

SHALKA, India: (Diogenite). Fell November 30, 1850. Tkw = 3.6+ kilograms.
This is just a tiny (1.5mm) fragment in a capsule in a labeled plastic box. The label indicates that is was purchased from Michael Blood at some point in the past. Not much other than a cheap way to add an interesting name to your collection.
Crumb in capsule - $5

Here is the second “after Tucson” list. This may be my only offering this month as I will likely be out of town when the next one should go out

BILANGA, Burkina Faso: (Diogenite). Fell October 27, 1999. Tkw = 25+ kilograms.
This is simply an “add the name to your collection cheaply” type specimen. It consists of a few fragments/ crumbs (around 4mm x 3mm) of this meteorite in a capsule in a labeled plastic box.
Crumbs in a capsule - $5

GAO, Burkina Faso: (H5). Fell March 5, 1960.
Here is a nice end piece that comes with two labels. One is the original Robert Haag paper label (the previous owner bought the specimen from him in 1996) and the other is a metal, stands up on its own “GAO-GUENIE” label (I won’t take the time to go into what I believe concerning that “name” right now). Anyway, it is a nice piece. The interior is lighter than most (and shows lots of metal) and back has quite a bit of obvious fusion crust (2/3 or so).
32.4 gram end piece – 42mm x 30mm x 15mm - $80

IMPACT BRECCIA: Ries Crater, Germany.
Here are two similar sized pieces of this interesting material. It is mostly a light gray rock but contains fragments of many different materials. One of the more interesting fragment inclusions are the frothy black glass pieces. These come with their original Bethany Sciences “Certificate of Authenticity”.
22.8 grams – two pieces - $40 -SOLD

MOLDAVITE, Czeck Republic.
This is an interesting shaped piece. It is oblong in general but has a knob hanging off of one end (making it the perfect pendant shape). Overall this is what I’d call a medium grade. It is not chipped and shows nice surface features, though they are not real deep (like the high end Besednice pieces). Not sure where the previous owner got this one. It may have been from me (as many of his pieces were). The card is the one I use, but then that is one that I “stole’ (with permission) from Robert Haag many years ago.
6.1 gram complete individual – 35mm x 22mm x 7mm - $35 -SOLD

SIKHOTE-ALIN, Russia: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Fell February 12, 1947.
Here is the “mate” to the 4kg complete crusted individual I offered earlier. In fact, it was consigned by the same person. This sits nicely on its own and shows a strong, bright etch (something I have never seemed to master brining out in my etching attempts). The back- side is fully and deeply thumb-printed to the point of showing some interesting shape features, though the crust clearly has been fairly heavily cleaned (but then who wants to cut up a pristine crusted individual?).
2265.1 gram end piece – 135mm x 95mm x 50mm - $4500

SLATON (b), Texas: Coarsest octahedrite (IIAB). Found 1940’s. Tkw = 6 kilograms.
Here is an item that I am offering before sending it back home to its owner in Texas. This interesting meteorite has a bit of a controversy attached to it. Though it has been heavily studied and is fully accepted in the Meteoritical Bulletin (Link here, I hope: http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meteor/metbull.php?sea=Slaton+%28b%29&sfor=names&ants=&falls=&valids=&stype=contains&lrec=50&map=ge&browse=&country=All&srt=name&categ=All&mblist=All&rect=&phot=&snew=0&pnt=Normal%20table&code=58497 )
there are some that believe that this is really a miss-placed Campo. The photo I have seen of it as a whole piece don’t argue against this (looks oddly orange and rust scaled – like an old salt bog Campo might look after years in a humid environment). However, the interior certainly looks completely different than any cut and etched Campos I have see. The etch on this has a strange taffy pulled look to it, something I don’t recall ever seeing on an etched Campo. In fact, the etch looks more like an etched piece of Sikhote-Alin shrapnel than a Campo. It seems that this particular meteorite has been in a serious collision at some point. As I don’t think there is a crater associated with this find (at least none is known) so I’d guess it happened in space. Also, this slice shows some silicate inclusions. One is fairly large (around 17mm x 9mm). It shows obvious orangish brown silicate minerals with no real graphite or troilite surrounding it. Both are features I don’t recall seeing in Campo (Campo generally has dark geenish black silicates that are usually surrounded by things like troilite and graphite). Anyway, an interesting (but certainly NOT cheap) “new” discovery.
89 gram complete slice – 150mm x 10mm x 3mm - $2500 -SOLD

TATAHOUINE, Tunisia: (Diogenite). Fell June 27, 1931.
This is strange stuff. It blew apart low in the atmosphere leaving mostly small waxy green fragments. Most believe that these pieces have no fusion crust. Careful inspection reveals that some do have very small (1mm or so) patches of black crust hiding on them. This piece is among those. This has a lot of smooth ablated looking surfaces but only a few tiny black patches of actual fusion crust. This is a piece the previous owner bought form me many years ago.
2.7 gram fragment with some tiny fusion crust patches – 15mm x 10mm x 9mm - $35 -SOLD